With the face paint missing, Adam Wainwright found a way to improvise for Sunday’s World Cup championship. “Yesterday, we wore the USA stickers,” shared Wainwright, who enjoyed the game with his wife and daughters. “We’ll get it hooked up the next United States match or whatever, we’ll be all painted up.”
Besides taking us back to his youth as a soccer and football star, Wainwright also shared the sign-up details for his upcoming Big League Impact Fantasy Football Draft and reacted to the National League All-Star roster.
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“Jhonny has, at times, carried us this season,” said Wainwright of teammate Jhonny Peralta being voted by the fans to start at shortstop. “When our bats have struggled to get going–at times during a whole week, we’d win 2-1 and he’d have both RBIs or he’d have a run scored and an RBI. Just playing very good defense, but he’s been that stabilizing bat. When the chips are stacked against us and we’re not really pushing a whole lot of runs across, first of all our pitching’s been amazing, but Jhonny has really just picked us up and put us on his back at different times of this year. We would not be where we are in first place without Jhonny Peralta.”
Like many, Wainwright was surprised to learn that while Matt Holliday had been an All-Star previously, this was the first time it was the fan vote that elected him as a starter.
“I think it’s really a good thing for him–he can say that it’s not that big a deal, but I think he’s really proud of it,” said Wainwright. “He’s building a future, potential Hall of Fame career and I’m excited for him. He’s one of my closest friends and he deserves it.”
Besides veterans like Holliday and Peralta finally getting the fans vote, Adam is excited for first-timers Michael Wacha and former teammate Shelby Miller to get the nod.
“It is so fun for a player to go there,” he stated. “They’re going to have so much fun–they’re going to remember it for the rest of their lives. They’re going to bring home memorabilia that they walk by their office every time and see and feel real proud of it.”
As for the idea that San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy could go with his own guy in selecting Madison Bumgarner to start for the National League in the All-Star game, Adam has no problem if that happens.
“I think there’s some loyalty involved and I appreciate it,” said Wainwright. “Great pitchers, like Madison, are always deserving of spots like that. There’s so many people that you could make an argument for–if you look at what Zack Greinke’s done this year, Max Scherzer. I think anyone has a great argument to start that game.”
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
